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FW: Public Comment for Item 3.7 on 6/10/25 Council Agenda From City Clerk <[email protected]>
Date Tue 6/10/2025 7:47 AM
To Agendadesk <[email protected]>
U 1 attachment (185 KB)
County Letter to San Jose City Mayor and City Council re City FY 25-26 Budget For Homelessness Prevention System (060925).pdf; From: Forrester, Kimberly <Kimberly. [email protected]> Sent: Tuesday, June 10, 2025 7:32 AM
To: City Clerk <[email protected]>
Subject: Public Comment for Item 3.7 on 6/10/25 Council Agenda [External Email. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources. Learn morel You don't often get email from [email protected]. Learn why this is important San Jose City Clerk:
Attached is a letter for public comment for Item 3.7 on the June 10, 2025 City Council agenda.
Thank you.
Kim Forrester, Special Assistant to the County Executive and Chief Operating Officer
County of Santa Clara
70 West Hedding Street, East Wing, 11th Floor | San José, CA 95110 [email protected]
countyexec.sccgov.org
This message is from outside the City email system. Do not open links or attachments from untrusted sources.
County of Santa Clara COU
1111
Office of the County Executive
County Government Center, East Wing
70 West Hedding Street 18.50
ANTA CLAI
San Jose, California 95110
(408) 299-5105
June 9, 2025
City Mayor and City Council
City of San José
200 E. Santa Clara Street
San José, CA 95113
Re: City of San José Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Budget for Homelessness Prevention System Dear City of San José Leaders:
The County strongly shares the City's commitment to addressing the urgent homelessness crisis in our community by preventing homelessness before it starts. Data shows that thousands of our neighbors are at risk of homelessness due to the severe shortage of affordable housing in all cities across our county, including in San José. The County, the City of San José, Destination: Home, and other community partners have successfully created and expanded the Homelessness Prevention System over the past eight years to address this crisis.
This system currently serves over 2,500 households a year, and the data shows prevention works.
I write at the request of the Board of Supervisors to urge that the City expand or at a minimum sustain current levels—of funding for the Homelessness Prevention System in the upcoming fiscal year. This proven program is backed by actual research demonstrating its efficacy and cost-effectiveness in addressing homelessness. Now is not the time to reduce funding for this program. Moreover, at the request of the Board, the County supports maintaining, at a minimum, the 10 percent allocation for the homelessness and gender-based violence prevention programs in Measure E funds and does not support the proposal to reallocate the 90 percent of Measure E funds from permanent supportive housing to other categories.
These proposals, if adopted, will make our community's homelessness challenges worse-not better.
The County thanks the City for including $5.23 million in Measure E dollars for homelessness prevention services in the City's 2025-2026 Proposed Operating Budget. But we must build on the progress we have made and we urge the City to at a minimum sustain its current budget for prevention. This year, the City is contributing $7.5 million to the Homelessness Prevention System. The County is contributing over $16 million and Destination:Home is contributing $4.5 million in private dollars. Despite major fiscal challenges, the County and Destination:Home are committed to sustaining our current year contributions and working together to increase funding to serve more at-risk households in our community. We ask the City to join us in our commitment. The City's proposed reduction of Board of Supervisors: Sylvia Arenas, Betty Duong, Otto Lee, Susan Ellenberg, Margaret Abe-Koga County Executive: James R. Williams 2-006
Letter to City of San José
Re: City of San José Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Budget for Homelessness Prevention System June 9, 2025
$2.3 million in prevention funding for the upcoming fiscal year means we would serve at least 600 fewer people next year than we did this year. At a time when the federal government's actions are threatening our social safety net, our residents need these critical services more than ever before.
We know the root cause of homelessness is the shortage of affordable housing. In Santa Clara County, a person needs to earn $51.81/hour to afford the average-priced apartment on the market.' The National Low Income Housing Coalition estimates that there are only 33 affordable and available rental units for every 100 extremely low-income households in our community-leaving our community short 45,277 homes for people experiencing or at the greatest risk of homelessness.? The lack of affordable housing options means that thousands of our neighbors are severely cost burdened, paying more than half of their income on housing costs. Seventy-five percent (75%) of extremely low-income households and 32% of very low- income households are severely cost burdened. When families are paying more than half of their income in rent, they are far more likely to be at risk of homelessness. An unexpected health issue, a reduction in wages, or a family separation may put these households at risk of homelessness overnight.
We know the Homelessness Prevention System (HPS) is effective, but we aren't meeting the need. In the last quarter we were able to serve approximately 33% of households who requested prevention assistance. That only reflects the people who were screened for prevention assistance by one of our partner agencies. The need is far greater and the majority of people served in the Homelessness Prevention System are from San José. Last year, 68% percent of the households served in the system were from San José. In the first half of this fiscal year, we have helped 1,732 households and over 65% are from San José. Yet City contributions account for 26% of the total HPS budget for the current fiscal year.
We must sustain and grow our investments in solutions that are backed by evidence. In collaboration with researchers from the University of Notre Dame's Lab for Economic Opportunities (LEO), Destination: Home and the Santa Clara County Office of Supportive Housing commissioned an independent evaluation to measure the impact of the Homelessness Prevention System. The findings were striking: 81% of those who enrolled in the program were significantly less likely to experience homelessness within six months and 73% less likely to become homeless within a year of enrollment. The outcomes are clear, and the solution is cost- effective. The study found that on average, the program spent $7,000 per household to prevent homelessness, making it both an incredibly efficient solution and a more humane approach to addressing the crisis we are facing.
The County appreciates the long-standing partnership with the City of San José and Destination:Home in building and growing our Homelessness Prevention System. While we are facing fiscal challenges at every level of government, we must remain committed to solutions National Low Income Housing Coalition, "Out of Reach.» 2024. https://nlihc.org/oor/state/ca. 2 National Low-Income Housing Coalition, "The Gap." 2025. https://nlihc.org/gap/state/ca.
Letter to City of San José
Re: City of San José Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Budget for Homelessness Prevention System June 9, 2025
that work. We thank the City for including homelessness prevention funding in the proposed budget, but we urge you to sustain the current level of City funding to ensure we do not have to reduce the capacity of this proven program and exacerbate the homelessness crisis that we all agree is a top priority to address.
Sincerely,
County Executive
c: County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors